People were running for their lives and hiding in back rooms after a loud noise at Lakeside Shopping Center Saturday triggered panic.
Security at Lakeside reported no active shooter, and said it appeared the loud noise was weather related.
Radar confirms a strong thunderstorm was passing over the mall at the time and lightning may have hit at or near the mall at the time of the noise that had shoppers fearing it was gunfire.
"It was one loud quick bang," a mall customer posted on Twitter.
Taylor Marino said he saw a "light ball" in the food court.
"Maybe the lightning strike blew up a light."
He said everybody was running.
"Saw 3 grandmas fall face first, people tripping over other people. Scary stuff"
Another post on Twitter described the pandemoneum spread.
"It’s absolutely terrifying to not know why a large crowd is running toward you screaming for you to hide," a user with the Twitter name Gunna posted. "So sad that there’s a thunderstorm and our first assumption is that it’s an active shooter."
